By Hope Sampson of University of Montana
The infamous Mopane Camp…16 people, 10 days, 7 packs of baby wipes, 4 rainy days, 3 transects, 1 communal bathroom pit, and not enough cans of peaches. This concession was a real character-building experience for each of us as individuals and for the group as a whole. Since our first week here we’ve been hearing story after story about all the things we’d face at this concession. It seems that every group contends with their own unique issues at this camp and going in we were excited to see what awaited us.
After our routine errand runs to Choppies for groceries and Aquarite for water we hit the road for the 2-hour drive to Mopane Camp in NG-34. We got off to a rocky start as Choppies was out of the big crates of 48 eggs and we had to settle for the cartons of 18. For context we usually bring approximately 336 eggs out to a concession, but this time we had to rock with a measly 126. We would also soon discover that we brought only 6 cans of peaches to the bush. This was an egregious oversight on our part, as we usually bring at least 20. We ran out on day 2 and life was grim without them.
As we took the turn off the main road it became evident that we were in for a remote camp. I was in a car with our instructor Dix, who loves nothing more than driving his favorite car (Mowanna) at full tilt, over the bumpiest roads known to man, whacking the mirrors, windows, and subsequently our arms against every overgrown branch of mopane that dares to enter the road. This camp is aptly named after the dense mopane scrub and woodland that surrounds it. After roughly an hour of dodging stray branches, we reached an intersection of 3 roads and a somewhat cleared area. This was to be our camp, and the roads were the transects we would run over the next 10 days. Immediately upon arrival, we got to work setting up our tents, setting up the kitchen, and most importantly…digging the latrine. That’s right, a latrine. This camp had no running water for drinking, let alone a bathroom. I feel that there’s not much more I need to elaborate on here. As they say, a picture is worth 1,000 words. I will note however, that many of us chose not to use the makeshift toilet seat that we sacrificed a chair for. (Side note: This was just our first chair casualty of the concession. By the end we will have broken 3 more chairs, bringing our semester total of broken chairs to 10.)
Jumping to Day 2, we continued camp setup by putting up one of our new tarps. We absolutely demolished our original tarp while trying to hide from the sun last concession in Kaziikini…
…so before leaving for Mopane we decided to buy some new ones. While we had two completely fresh, sun blocking, waterproof tarps at our disposal, we simply couldn’t be asked to set up both, and settled for putting just one up to cover the kitchen.
Unsurprisingly, we later regretted this decision to only set up one, as the days of drizzling rain and beating sun had us piled in a heap under it, in one of the most inconvenient spots in camp. Making lunch became a trip through an obstacle course, weaving between trees, tables, backpacks, and people. Maybe next concession we’ll learn from our experience and set up both tarps. Or maybe not. Only time will tell.
Since we’re on the subject of rain, I would like to make a PSA to all future Round River Botswana students: put ALL the field guides/books away BEFORE bed! You never know when a stray rain shower may come through, and if they get left out it’s all over. Here’s a comical picture of what may seem like a book-burning but is really an attempt to dry out some sad, wet field guides.
The book fiasco occurred on our 3rd night at camp, and on day 4 we had our first completely rainy day of the semester. It’s been a particularly dry wet season around the delta, so this drizzly day was a welcome relief. Our original plan for the day was to go into the village of Sankoyo to conduct interviews for our final projects, play a pickup soccer game, and then potentially take showers. However, due to the rain and not having an indoor space to conduct the interviews, it was proposed that we may have to postpone the whole day, stay in camp, and do class instead. This alternate idea was vehemently opposed by all of us students, as we were so excited for the events of the day. We put on our best pouty faces and puppy dog eyes, and after a bit of logistical rearranging, our wonderful instructors caved and said we could still go!
We would move the interviews to later in the week and in place of them we were given an impromptu tour of Dix’s home and property. In addition to being a RR program coordinator, Dix stays busy working on many personal projects. We got a tour of a structure that will one day be a community library and study space, where kids can come and have a dedicated work space outside of school. Dix recognizes the need for spaces like this to promote learning and foster jobs for community members. He also showed us around his garden and fields, where he’s working on finding the best crops to withstand the soil and water conditions of the area. He wants to be able to produce enough produce that he could allow people in the village who don’t have enough food to come and take what they need. In addition to the garden, he is cultivating chili pepper plants, which he plans to use as a natural deterrent to keep elephants out of his fields, a practice he hopes others will adopt and in turn reduce human-wildlife conflict.
After our informative tour of Dix’s projects we visited his chickens and goats, said goodbye to his adorable Rhodesian Ridgeback Bagheera and headed down the road to the soccer field.
As we arrived at the field we became increasingly daunted by the challenge that awaited us. As we warmed up and kicked the ball around, doubting our general skill and ability, people began to filter in wearing cleats and jerseys, and a crowd of at least 20 little kids huddled on the sidelines. It was becoming obvious we’d have some serious competition. Lucky for us we split up the teams to be made up of half Round River people, half Sankoyo locals, in hopes that neither side would get a total butt-kicking. We spent the following 2 hours playing our hearts out. We were like a bunch of little kids, running around in the rain, dancing around the thorns in the sand, laughing all the way. While some tried to contest result, the final score was a fair and square tie – 3:3.
After our game we headed over to the Community Trust office, headquarters of the management of NG-34 and 33. The office had one shower that they were gracious enough to let 13 wet, sweaty, sandy individuals use. There’s nothing that compares to a shower in the bush. Even 5 minutes in medium cold water can make you feel like a person again, and we were so grateful for this small luxury. While we were taking turns washing off, we noticed the group of kids who watched the soccer game had followed us to the office and were shyly peeking out from behind our cars. They weren’t shy for long though, and over the next hour we had a couple dance parties, played ninja, a game of tag, and red-light green-light. As the sun was setting to our west we watched in wonder as the clouds broke and a full rainbow appeared to the east. This was my favorite day of the concession and one of the highlights of my whole semester. It was so soul-filling to spend the day simply playing and laughing with people.
I, of course, can’t write this blog without mentioning the wildlife. While this concession didn’t provide us with as much wildlife as some of our previous ones, there were still some really fun sightings. My favorite transect was T6 during which we saw roans, zebra, giraffes, and most notably had an encounter with a very grumpy elephant. Giraffes and elephants are surprisingly hard to spot, despite their incredible size. I’ve looked over giraffes more times than I can count, simply passing them off as a termite mound or just being oblivious to their perfectly concealing patterning. While elephants don’t have any patterning to hide them, their inconspicuous grey color helps them blend in, making them seem like a tree trunk or just a nondescript backdrop behind the mopane. Additionally, they’re extremely quiet as their thick, leathery feet that absorb their impact and make almost no sound on the sandy ground.
There’s so much more I could say about Mopane Camp. I could talk and talk about the nature walks, the incredible stargazing, the endless card games, the running low on snacks and cans and general food on the last two days, and all the silly moments in between, but I better leave some things up to your imagination. Just know that if you choose to come to Botswana with Round River, you’ll have experiences you never thought you would and grow more than you knew you could. You’ll also laugh a lot 🙂
